Indeed he
grew so strong and well, out-of-doors all day in the clear air and bright
sunshine of the Alaskan June, that he could eat anything and tramp all
day without being too tired to sleep like a top all night, and wake ready
for a new day with a zest he never felt at home.

Fresh fish were plentiful. The boys caught salmon, smelts, and whitefish,
and many were dried for the coming winter, while clams, gum-boots,
sea-cucumbers, and devil-fish, found on the rocks of the shore, were
every-day diet.

Kalitan's sister and Ted became great friends. She was older than
Kalitan, and, though only fifteen, was soon to be married to Tah-ge-ah, a
fine young Indian who was ready to pay high for her, which was not
strange, for she was both pretty and sweet.

"At the next full moon," said Kalitan, "there will be a potlatch, and
Tanana will be sold to Tah-ge-ah. He says he will give four hundred
blankets for her, and my uncle is well pleased. Many only pay ten
blankets for a wife, but of course we would not sell my sister for that.
She is of high caste, chief's daughter, niece, and sister," the boy
spoke proudly, and Ted answered:

"She's so pretty, too. She's not like the Indian girls I saw at Wrangel
and Juneau. Why, there the women sat around as dirty as dogs on the
sidewalk, and didn't seem to care how they looked. They had baskets to
sell, and were too lazy to care whether any one bought them or not. They
weren't a bit like Tanana. She's as pretty as a Japanese."

Kalitan smiled, well pleased, and Ted added, "I guess the Thlinkits must
be the best Indians in Alaska."

Kalitan laughed outright at this.

"Thlinkits pretty good," he said. "Tanana good girl. She learned much
good at the mission school, marry Tah-ge-ah, and make people better. She
can weave blankets, make fine baskets, and keep house like a white girl."
"She's all right," said Ted. "But, Kalitan, what is a potlatch?"

"Potlatch is a good-will feast," said his friend, "Very fine thing, but
white men do not like. Say Indian feasts are all bad. Why is it bad when
an Indian gives away all his goods for others? That is what a great
potlatch is. When white men give us whiskey and it is drunk too much,
then it is very bad. But Tyee will not have that for Tanana's feast. We
will drink only quass[8], as my people made it before they learned evil
drinks and fire-water, which make them crazy."

[Footnote 8: Quass is a native drink, harmless and acid, made with rye